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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27714412">Locked-Up - COC Day 1</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/abrandneweeveelution/pseuds/abrandneweeveelution'>abrandneweeveelution</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Carry On Countdown 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Basically Simon and Penny being Simon and Penny, COC Prompt: Found Family, Carry On Countdown (Simon Snow), Carry On Countdown 2020 (Simon Snow), Carry On Countdown Day 1, Chosen One :)), Gen, Headmistress Mitali Bunce, Once Upon A Time, One Shot, Post-Book 2: Wayward Son, Pre-Carry On elements, Simon finds out that his dad is the Mage, Simon looks through the mage's stuff, the mage was actually a good father</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 15:42:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>589</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27714412</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/abrandneweeveelution/pseuds/abrandneweeveelution</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Mitali finds an old journal of the Mage's and invites Simon and Penny to come look at the entries, which, they discover, concern Simon and his parents.</p><hr/><p>This is my work for the Carry On Countdown 2020, Day 1.<br/>Prompt: Found Family</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Minor or Background Relationship(s), Penelope Bunce &amp; Simon Snow, The Mage/Lucy Salisbury - Mentioned</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Carry On Countdown 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2027038</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Locked-Up - COC Day 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>I walked into the headmistress’s office. Mitali stands just inside, and Penny follows me. Headmistress Bunce, or, as she had asked me to call her, Mitali, had invited us to look at some things that she thought might interest Penny and me. Namely, a journal that she had found that seemed to have some stuff involving me.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s in the cabinet behind his desk,” she tells us—the</span>
  <em>
    <span> cabinet</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Before the Mage died, the cabinet was under lock and key at all times. Was that journal the reason?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mitali left the room and closed the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Penny made her way to the cabinet and opened it to reveal a large, leather-bound notebook, like the kind you’d see explorers lugging around. She tried to pull it out, but couldn’t hold it, and dropped it on the floor instead. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>I walked over to the journal and helped her. We dragged it over to the front side of the mahogany desk that sat in the middle of the office. Penny kneeled on the other side of the journal for a few seconds, before dropping her knees and laying down on the carpet. I laid down from the start, my legs extending towards the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>We opened the journal. As expected, the pages were a bit dusty from time and unuse; the first was labelled, “Post-birth, Observing Simon”.</span>
</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>
    <em>
      <span>I have been taking care of him. Lucy died after birth, so the responsibility falls onto my shoulders. I can’t shed tears for her now; not only do I not have enough liquid in my tear ducts, as I haven’t had any water to drink for a few hours, but I also can’t focus on the unpleasant things when I need to make sure that the only person who can stop the worst thing is taken care of for now.</span>
    </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>
      <span>I can only hope that my Simon, my son, or, as Lucy would’ve said, our rosebud boy, is going to be able to handle what we’ve placed on his shoulders. </span>
    </em>
  </p>
</blockquote><p>
  <span>“Oh- oh fuck,” Penny breathed, her eyes widening behind her gold-rimmed glasses. (She had needed new frames - her old ones had broken in the fight with the NowNext vampires - and when she got to the lens shop, she saw that pair and it was game-set-match from there.) </span>
</p><p>
  <span>I agreed with her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Holy Morgana,” she said, “is this - are you - are you actually </span>
  <em>
    <span>his</span>
  </em>
  <span> son?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know,” I said. If this was true, then that would mean that I wasn’t an orphan. That my parents - well, my dad, at least, was still alive for eighteen years of my life. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Eighteen years.</span>
  </em>
  <span> And he never told me.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I reread the last paragraph, and a phrase jumps out at me. </span>
  <em>
    <span>...or, as Lucy would’ve said, our rosebud boy… </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“That day… when I heard the ghost in our room…” I start slowly. Penny looks up at me, her freckles seeming to rearrange with the shift in light. Her eyes narrowed in confusion. “During the Visitings, I heard someone calling out. She was saying, ‘My boy, my rosebud boy. I never would have left you. He told me we would be stars,’ or something like that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She catches on immediately. “You think that was your mom? Lucy?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, maybe.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t believe that the Mage was your father,” Penny muses. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Neither can I,” I mutter, tracing my finger across the page. “Who would?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s a valid question with a simple answer. But I haven’t gotten a reply yet, even now, and I’m still not sure if I want to.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I might not be able to do every day of the Carry On Countdown, but I'll do my best! I'll also add the days to the titles to make it clear which days I did and didn't do.<br/>Thanks for reading! Every comment is appreciated!<br/>-Col</p></blockquote></div></div>
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